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Toquima Cave

Toquima Cave

Toquima Cave Overview

Located about 18 miles away by car and a half mile on foot, Toquima Cave is an important Great Basin Native American site.

The cave is gated but visitors can still see the colorful pictographs (images applied to rocks with paint) that cover the walls and ceiling.

Category

Native American

Marker Type

Blue marker

Nevada Historical Marker Number

Toquima Cave is Nevada Historical Marker #136.

Click here to view the complete list of Nevada State Historical Markers.

County

Lander County, Nevada

GPS Coordinates

39.399926, -116.941823

Nevada Historical Marker Transcription

Toquima Cave is an extraordinary Great Basin Native American archaeological site.  Toquima Cave’s walls and ceiling are covered with pictographs in a variety of abstract and geometric designs painted with white, red, yellow, and black pigments.  The meanings of these ancient designs may be as ceremonial markers, depictions of hallucinations, and art.  Western Shoshone Indians historically occupied this region, and their ancestors most likely painted the Toquima Cave pictographs.

Toquima Cave is located in a basalt outcrop on the east side of Pete’s Summit in the Toquima Range about 12 miles to the east.  The cave is accessed by a half-mile hiking trail from the US Forest Service Toquima Cave Campground.  In order to protect the pictographs from vandalism, visitors are separated from the cave walls by a cage-like structure.

HISTORICAL MARKER NO.136                                                                                                                                                                      

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE

References Used

Toquima Cave